At least nine people were killed in an airstrike in Somalia’s Puntland state on Sunday, according to local officials, as uncertainty continues over who carried out the attack.

The strike hit the coastal area of Jiifle, in the Godob-Jiraan district of the Nugaal region, according to Keynaan Abdi, the mayor of Godob-Jiraan.

No country or military force has claimed responsibility for the strike. However, local sources said the Cameroon-flagged M/V LUTUF, which was hijacked by pirates last week, had been taken to the area several days earlier.

Puntland’s Ministry of Information said it did not yet have official information about the attack but had launched an investigation.

“We do not have much information. This information requires extensive follow-up. I hope that the investigation will be carried out in the coming days,” Puntland Deputy Minister of Information Bile Mahmoud Qabowsade said.

The BBC reported that it contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Aug. 19 regarding an earlier airstrike, but officials said they had no information about the operation. The Somali federal government has also not publicly commented on the attacks.

Abdifatah Yusuf Diiriye, a Jiifle resident who visited the scene, told the BBC that he saw eight bodies with faces that were difficult to recognize.

“There were men killed there. They were on a boat, and we don’t know where the boat came from, and we can’t confirm whether they were fishermen or going for something else,” he said.

He said the victims appeared to have been struck by a missile and suffered severe burns. Some local youths aboard the boat were known in the area as fishermen, he added.

The strike has caused fear among residents of the coastal community, where the identities of those killed and the circumstances surrounding the attack remain unclear.

The hijacking of the M/V LUTUF followed another recent seizure of a commercial vessel in the region. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported last week that armed men had hijacked a cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden and diverted it toward Somalia.

The vessel was reportedly seized about 136 nautical miles east of Yemen and was being directed toward the Somali coast.

Puntland’s Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources said it was closely monitoring the recent increase in piracy incidents off the Puntland coast and in surrounding waters and had strengthened maritime security and enforcement operations.

The ministry said preliminary information suggested that groups operating from outside Puntland were attempting to recruit and financially support individuals and networks previously associated with piracy.

The ministry warned that those involved in piracy would face appropriate action and urged shipowners, operators and insurance companies not to negotiate directly with pirate groups or pay ransoms.

“Such funds provide these criminal networks with the resources and incentive to continue their operations and risk encouraging the emergence of additional pirate groups,” the ministry said. The resurgence of piracy has also raised broader concerns about maritime security in the region. Some defense analysts have suggested that Yemen’s Houthi rebels could seek to cooperate with pirate networks to disrupt shipping in the Red Sea, although there is no confirmed evidence publicly linking the Houthis to the recent hijackings.

Ali Hassan, an investigative and a freelance journalist writes from Stadthagen, Germany. [email protected]